New variety of potato is expected to hit the market at the end of this November, agriculture officials said.
Cultivation of early variety of potato has been disrupted due to heavy rains this year, they said, adding that early variety of potato usually arrives in the market in mid-November.
They also said that there will be a delay of 10-15 days in the arrival of potatoes in the market. Accordingly, the supply of new potatoes will increase at the end of November or in the first week of December.
Nilphamari, Rangpur and Dinajpur are among the districts producing early variety of potatoes.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Ministry on Tuesday directed deputy commissioners to ensure sale of potatoes at the price set by the government (Tk 26-27 per kg) at the cold storage level with the presence of a nominated officer.
Deputy commissioners have also been asked to implement the order from tomorrow (November 1, 2023). The commerce ministry issued a letter in this regard on Monday to all the deputy commissioners.
“Traders are selling potatoes at prices higher than that set by the government – at the cold storage and retail levels. In order to stabilize the market in public interest, deputy commissioners will take necessary measures to sell potatoes from the cold storages under their supervision on an emergency basis under section 3 (2) (e) of the Control of Essential Commodities Act-1956,” the letter reads.
“In this case, the deputy commissioners will assign the responsibility of supervising one or more storage to an appropriate officer at the district and upazila level. In the presence of the officer in charge, the government will sell potatoes at the fixed price,” it said.
Earlier, On September 14, the government fixed the price of potatoes at Tk 26-27 per kg at the cold storage level and Tk 35-36 per kg at the retail level.
But potatoes are not being sold at the price fixed by the government at any level.
SM Abu Bakar Saiful Islam, deputy director at Department of Agriculture Extension, Nilphamari district, told The Business Post that usually, early varieties of potatoes come to the market in the middle of November. But due to heavy rains, this time many farmers have to plant anew.
“Many potato fields were destroyed. So, it may come to the market a bit late at the end of November or at the beginning of December. But the main season of potato will start from December to February.”
Although early varieties of potato are not produced much, but increasing the supply in the market helps to control the prices. Many buyers buy new season potatoes at higher prices, he added.
This year the target of cultivating potato in Nilphamari has been set at 21,712 hectares of land. Out of this, early varieties of potato are being cultivated on 13,500 hectares of land.
Onion harvest starts in mid-December
As India has doubled the export price of onion due to its shortage in the domestic market, the onion price in Bangladesh has also increased substantially. In such a situation, new variety of onion is expected to arrive in the market in mid-December.
However, farmers and Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) officials say that it will take 45 more days for the onion harvest. In mid-December, early murikata variety of onions will be available in the market. Then the price will come down. Until then, consumers will have to rely on domestic stocks and imported onions.
According to the DAE data, onion is mostly produced in Pabna, Faridpur and Rajbari. In the last season, onion was cultivated on 53,320 hectares of land in Pabna while 42,000 hectares of land in Faridpur.
DAE officials said three types of onions are produced in the country. Among them, the cultivation of murikata onions starts from the end of October to the beginning of November. These onions start coming in the market in mid-December.
The second crop starts in December which starts coming to the market in early February.
Md. Rafiqul Islam, head of Faridpur district Department of Agriculture Extension (deputy director) said, due to heavy rains, there has been some delay in the preparation of land. But onion cultivation has already started. It is expected that new onions will start arriving in the market from mid-December.
Farmers have increased onion cultivation compared to last year. Last year, onion was cultivated on 42,000 hectares of land in Faridpur. Among them, 5000 hectares of land were cultivated in November and December for early variety onion.
This year the total onion cultivation will increase to more than 50,000 hectares. Besides, the cultivation of early varieties of onions will also increase to 7,000 hectares. Of this, onion cultivation has been completed on 3,000 hectares till Monday last. Planting is expected to be completed in next 5-7 days.
